Filed under
propulsion
6 milestones, in chronological order.
- Written 1949, published 1952Canals and Dreamers
Von Braun costs out a Mars expedition
Ten ships, seventy crew, and 950 launches to assemble the fleet in Earth orbit: the first Mars expedition worked out in real numbers, and never flown.
- Tested 1969, terminated January 1973First Contact
NERVA runs in Nevada, then the money stops
A nuclear engine ran 28 times at Jackass Flats at twice the exhaust velocity of any chemical stage. The budget office zeroed it, and the programme ended in January 1973.
- 28 September 2008The Rover Decades
Falcon 1 reaches orbit on the fourth attempt
After three failures, SpaceX's Falcon 1 put a 165 kg dummy payload into orbit from a Pacific atoll: by SpaceX's account the first privately developed liquid-fuelled rocket to get there.
- 21 December 2015Follow the Water
A Falcon 9 first stage flies back and lands upright
Less than ten minutes after lifting off with 11 satellites, a Falcon 9 first stage flew back to Cape Canaveral and landed upright, the first stage from an orbital launch to do so.
- April 2023 – July 2026The Present Push
Thirteen Starship flights, and Mars slips to 2028
SpaceX flew Starship thirteen times from April 2023 to July 2026. None reached orbit, none transferred propellant between two ships, and the 2026 Mars window was given up.
- 28 September 2026The Present Push
Starship reaches orbit on its fourteenth flight
On its fourteenth flight Starship entered Earth orbit for the first time and released 26 Starlink satellites. It did not attempt the ship-to-ship refuelling a Mars flight needs.